


Colors in Motion

by thecookiemomma



Category: NCIS
Genre: Alternate Universe, Community: nfacommunity, Gen, White Elephant Exchange, weird science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-01
Updated: 2016-07-01
Packaged: 2018-07-19 08:31:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7353571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thecookiemomma/pseuds/thecookiemomma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jimmy Palmer goes to intern at the Hoover Building.  It literally changes his life.  Not as much as it changes Fornell's, though.  WEE Fic written for Smackalicious at NFA.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Smackalicious](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Smackalicious).



> **Please Read:** I have a couple caveats to make. First off, I've used this plot device before, so if it looks familiar, that's why. Secondly, if you've got any background in science, I apologize, because I did the handwavy thing, and just did whatever I wanted with it. (I'm like Loki that way, I guess). Thirdly, there are a couple issues that started to creep up in the latter parts of the story. I haven't decided whether I'm going to address them in a sequel, or just leave them to be dealt with by the characters in their own way offscreen. That might annoy you. Fourthly, I hope you like it, Smack, cuz I like you. It _is_ weird, but there you go.

**Interesting Intern**

Tobias Fornell stepped into the Federal Bureau of Investigation and heard the strangest thing. "And then, Doctor Palmer, you'll be working here with us for the week." He stopped, curious as to who this "Doctor Palmer" was. He knew a "Mister Palmer," and if he was here, then things were bound to get interesting. He turned the corner, and saw that it was indeed the ME's assistant from NCIS.

 

"Gremlin," Tobias grinned, and Jimmy good-naturedly rolled his eyes.

 

"Fornell. I wondered if I'd see you here."

 

"You're finished with the rest of it?" He gestured to where the ID did actually say, "Doctor Palmer."

 

"Oh, yeah, I finished last month. I would have been in here sooner, but Tori has been teething, so it's been a rough couple weeks."

 

Tobias winced in sympathy. "Oh, man. When Emily was teething, I went through more silk ties..." He shook his head, but grinned. "Wouldn't have it any other way, though." Jimmy smiled and agreed with him. "So, who are you working with while you're here?"

 

"Uh, I'm not sure which exact team. I just know I have to spend some time with a team for a week and get the experience." He shrugged, and Tobias grinned.

 

"I know which team. Mine." Tobias had asked specifically for any contact with the team from NCIS, and Jimmy was a member of that team.

 

"Oh, good." Jimmy pushed his glasses up on his nose again, and grinned. "So, show me what the Female Body Inspectors do."

 

"Oh, God. You've been infected by DiNozzo." He groaned.

 

"Oh, no, it's a mutual infection thing. Different viruses." Jimmy sounded completely unbothered by his comment.

 

"Great. Well, come on, kid, we'll get you set up."

 

**Team's Last Case**

It didn't take much to get Jimmy set up. He took to his job with a passion and professionalism that Tobias credited to having served with Donald Mallard for so long. The man was nothing if not professional. The first couple cases were fairly straightforward, and Jimmy performed admirably. Two more cases were easily closed without his help, though for some reason, the young man had come up to the squad room and brought food on one of those nights. It had been a lifesaver. When Tobias asked him about it, he just shrugged and said that the superhero work didn't happen on empty stomachs. They chuckled at his manner, and dove into the food. While he sat eating with him, he pointed to something they hadn't noticed in the file, and then left the room, taking the trash with him. Dammed if that didn't solve the case.

 

Tobias shook his head as he sat in his chair. It had been an interesting week. Jimmy had helped foster a sense of camaraderie that Fornell hadn't felt in other places. He knew the team over in the orange building had it, but he didn't know that every individual contributed to it. Maybe that was where they were going wrong. They expected people to stay in the roles they were hired for, instead of melting together into one big group. He shrugged, and thought about the cases they'd finished. He would miss Jimmy when he went back to work next week. They just had the paperwork to do, and then...

 

Famous last words — and he hadn't even spoken them out loud. The phone on his desk rang, and he answered it. "TC Fornell?" He listened to the details of the case, and sighed. "Put your pens down, boys and girls, and alert the Gremlin. We've got a bad one."

 

They all strode to their cars and drove to the site. It was a kidnapping. It seemed like half of the things they did these days were people trying to wring money out of other people by stealing their wives and kids. This one was a little weird, though. The boy, Graham Artiz, had been taken off the street. His parents were model citizens — though upper middle class — and the kid was well-liked. There was no real motive yet. He hated it when they were random. That was even worse than planned jobs. At least then, somebody had a grudge, and worked until they could hurt the guy they had the grudge against. This time, it seemed completely random. That was cold. He sighed and looked over the information the parents had brought in.

 

"Has there been contact yet?" Sacks asked the question first.

 

"No. Nobody's called us, texted us, or gotten a hold of us in any way. If they wanted to hurt David ..."

 

"I'm not sure that was the reason, Mrs. Artiz. I think it may have been random." Tobias spoke before he thought it through. David and Marcella Artiz inhaled sharply.

 

"So, we might never see him again, huh?" David sounded angry, but Tobias knew that it was a cover for the pain he was feeling. "We'll never get to see him messing around with that stupid... wait."

 

Tobias tilted his head, and waited for the father to process. He gestured over to Marcella, and she frowned, trying to understand what he was trying to say.

 

"Didn't we put that thing in his little game thingy?" David wasn't tech-savvy, it seemed, but he did know a little bit.

 

"Something in a game device?" Tobias' brain was whirling. "What kind of game device? And you put a tracker in it?"

 

"It was one of the options. Anti-theft." Maria was pulling up the information on her phone. "He never goes anywhere without it." Tobias grinned, and pulled out his own phone. It was time to make a call.

 

**Gremlin makes the call**

Jimmy pulled up to a large white building that looked remarkably like some of the buildings he'd been taking classes in. There were vents, and other kinds of security. He sighed as he looked down at his phone. The babysitter wasn't able to come, and Jimmy was having to call his secondary babysitter again. He didn't want to take her to the daycare when he wasn't at NCIS, and it seemed like his rotation cycle was going to take a while. He typed out a reply as he waited for the rest of his team, and then stowed his phone when he saw Fornell's sedan drive up.

 

"This is where they are?" Jimmy gestured to the big white building in front of them.

 

"If the data on the game device is correct," Zou replied. Amari was Fornell's newest hire. Jimmy knew that she was a little younger than he was, and had just gotten out of Quantico a few months before. At first, Fornell hadn't been happy to have a newbie on the team, but according to the scuttlebutt that Jimmy had heard, she had proved herself in no time flat.

 

Jimmy shifted the bag on his shoulders, and nodded. "This looks awfully like a ..." He was cut off by Fornell.

 

"Okay, I want..." Fornell began directing the Hostage Rescue Team to their places. Jimmy wasn't sure he should speak up, so he stayed quiet. He chewed on his lip and waited for instructions. He hoped he had enough rubber gloves along. He frowned, and closed his eyes in thought, and nodded to himself. "Gremlin? You ready? You're gonna go in with me after they clear the room."

 

"Sounds like a plan, Agent Fornell." He knew that in a kidnapping case, the primary role of a doctor on scene was to make sure that the victim was okay. He started to speak up again, but the other man had already walked off toward the building, and Jimmy wanted to make sure he followed.

 

They watched from the HRT van, and Jimmy marveled again at the way these men and women were committed to their work. He could go out and take care of things, sure, especially if there was an injury or a need for medical information, but he wasn't as good at the frontline stuff, and suspected he never would be. He'd grumbled a little about that to Breena, and she grinned, patted him on the shoulder, and kissed him gently on the cheek. She'd said that he was an important part of the team and he was doing the right thing. For some strange reason, it sounded a lot like what he'd said to her dad to get him to shut up. He chuckled softly to himself, drawing Agent Fornell's attention, and waved it off.

 

After a few moments that seemed to drag out, team called the all-clear. Jimmy grabbed Fornell's arm. "Um, I know you all cleared this place, and it's supposed to be a storefront, but ...."

 

"Spit it out, Gremlin," Fornell groused, sounding like a weird mixture of Tony and Agent Gibbs.

 

"Well, there are those vents up there, and there's some sealing material around the windows. Why would they need those for a storefront?" Jimmy pointed them out, even going so far as to zoom in with a pinch on the screen. "See? That's industrial grade. Even if they're selling some of the strongest chemicals, everything has to be shipped and kept sealed in the building that sells them. Otherwise, the office workers get sick. We went over this in class. Production and packaging of chemicals is always done in a separate place. Or, if it's in the same building, there are serious structural changes to the building to make them look — and act — like two separate buildings. Otherwise, everybody gets sick. "

 

"You mean..." Fornell's face paled as he gazed at the screens. "That wasn't on any of the manifests or the official files."

 

"That sounds hinky to me." Jimmy agreed.

 

Fornell nodded sharply and barked an order into his radio. "All teams, Hold." The two men at the door froze mid-action as they waited to hear what the holdup was. "Gremlin says there might be contamination."

 

"What the hell, Fornell?" Ervin Downs, the head of the HRT sounded understandably annoyed. "On what basis? He hasn't been in the building yet."

 

"The shape of the building and the features lend themselves to a chemical processing facility." Fornell rolled his eyes as he used the formal language.

 

"Roger. Hold." The two men waited while Downs checked with a member of his team. "Concur. Since he's the medical professional here — my guy's a nurse — get him up here. Suits?" Ever since the Anthrax scares, every government agency had gotten very skilled at doing their jobs with or without protective gear.

 

"What does he say? Has he been in the building? Has he found some reason for you to suit up? If you hadn't breached, I'd consider it, but since you've breached and there doesn't seem to be any...." Jimmy trailed off, realizing he was rambling again. He looked over at the building, still chewing on his lip, hoping he was making the right call.

 

"Doc," Graves, the nurse, replied, "I didn't see any reason to suit up. I didn't think about it before now, but it does have that 'lab' feel. I hope we don't find anything that ..." Graves cut off his own words with a gusty sigh. "Not at the moment, Doc. I can't guarantee where I can't see, obviously, but from what I can see, no reason to."

 

"Good. Let's keep the suits on standby just in case, though." Jimmy agreed. It was a long shot that there was some kind of chemical in there, but long shots were what got people killed. He sighed, and when Fornell cocked his head toward the door, the two men walked to the building, keeping an eye on the area as they went. He heard Fornell's phone chime, and knew it was probably Emily texting him about something. Even in the short time he'd worked with the man, he'd gotten a good feel of the relationship between Fornell and his daughter. _I only hope to be so lucky,_ Jimmy thought, a soft smile crossing his face at the thought of Tori growing up and being as neat a girl as Emily seemed to be. He shook his head, focused on the case again, and looked back at the building, then at Fornell. "Okay, well, if it's clear enough for me to go in there, I can see more ..."

 

"That was the plan, Palmer. Let's move." With a decisive nod, Fornell took off toward the building again, and Jimmy followed him, only a step behind.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Entry and happenings.**

Tobias strode into the building, the good doctor on his left and a step back. For a moment, Tobias was amusedly reminded of Gibbs and DiNozzo as they walked from crime scene to crime scene. He nodded to Downs as he passed, and Downs gave them both a light salute.

 

"Nothin' seems to be out of order, Fornell," the man noted as they passed.

 

"Good. Let's keep it that way, huh?" Fornell replied, drolly in the way of all LEOs. They crossed the threshold into the entryway, and Tobias glanced around. Nothing did seem out of place, but he couldn't be sure, since the kid was right. It looked an awful lot like a lab. This made their job a lot more complicated. He spoke into the mic. "Eyes on the package yet?"

 

Downs shook his head. "Not yet. Not surprised, though. Kid could've gotten away when the ..." He held his hand up to his ear as he heard information relayed to him from one of the other agents. "Hold on, Fornell. Think they found him." He frowned, and gestured. "You'd better get in there. Take Doc with you, too." That didn't sound good at all, and Fornell fairly ran to where the men pointed. There was Graham, strapped down to a bed, an IV in his veins. A tall, fair-skinned man had a needle in his hand, getting ready to inject something into his skin.

 

"Put the needle down, or we'll shoot." The agents in the room had guns trained on him, and his hand seemed to be moving toward the IV. The man still moved, and Tobias reached out to grab him. He winced as he felt the needle prick his skin. "Dammit!" His curse was covered by the gunshot, and the man moved again, pulling the needle out and holding up his hand. Apparently, whoever had taken the shot had missed. He wasn't sure what to think of that, and he really wasn't sure about the dizziness that flowed through his system so quickly.

 

He crumpled against a second bed behind him, and Jimmy deftly laid him down on it. In some small portion of his brain, Tobias was glad that the younger man had been schlepping for Ducky all these years. Palmer was strong. It didn't take long for him to get him stretched out and for the doctor to check his body over, inhaling sharply when his fingers neared the site of the needle.

 

He heard Jimmy's loud curse. "Dammit, Graves, get your ass over here." Tobias mused that the little man was so soft and quiet, but when it came time to do something having to do with medicine, he was quick, sharp and decisive, just as he ought to be. "It hit a vein..." He felt Jimmy reach up to grab the handkerchief Emily insisted he stick in his jacket pocket, and thought about how good Jimmy was at his job.

 

"S' m' Gre—" He tried to speak, but the words wouldn't form. He closed his eyes, thought he heard something comforting from the doctor and his nurse, and then, everything was blissfully black and quiet.

 

**Resulting Discoveries**

Jimmy finished checking over Fornell while the rest of the team dealt with the idiot and the boy. He listened as the man, whom the agents had identified as Travion Griffiths, ranted about his pet project being messed up, and his grants going away. He worked carefully to cover the infection, not knowing what the chemical in the syringe would do. He pulled the syringe out, and started to hand it to Graves to put into an evidence container when Graves turned and bumped his hand. Two droplets of the chemical fell onto his arm, missing his glove by millimeters. "Chemical contamination," Jimmy announced by rote. "It's probably nothing, just a drop of whatever's in the stick, but it was absorbed." He looked down at his arm, and watched as Graves swabbed the area and cleared it, covering it with a bandage.

 

"Good. Thank you." Having dealt with the issue, Jimmy turned to the paramedics nearby. "Clean room. Injection by chemical, ingredients unknown. Don't let anybody but suited medical personnel in there until we find out what's in this stuff and what this jackass intended it to do." He looked over at the man who was still figuratively foaming at the mouth and talking about fixing the problem. "I have a feeling he was trying to correct a physical problem with a new drug without going through the FDA, and we all know how well _that_ goes over." The medical professionals grumbled at that, as did some of the FBI agents. "I will be there shortly —" He was interrupted when Graves held up his hand.

 

"No, Doc, you're going along. If you've been infected, there's no way we're letting you out of our sight. Plus, there's nothing else for you to do here. So, you can keep an eye on Fornell, and we can keep an eye on you."

 

Jimmy opened his mouth to protest, but remembered Ducky when he was sick. He had a heck of a time trying to keep the man in the hospital under proper doctor's care. He'd heard it over and over during his studies. _"Doctors make the worst patients."_ He could hear Doctor Mallard's voice. "Mister Palmer, Doctors really do make the most horrible patients. I remember one time when I was a houseman..." The story ended up in three counties in England and two in Scotland. He shook his head, and Graves started to protest. He held up his head. "Yeah. I understand, Tom. I'll go along. I was just thinking about when Doctor Mallard was in the hospital." He rolled his eyes, and Graves was doing the same thing.

 

"Thank you for not promoting the stereotype, Palmer. Now, get in the damn bus." Graves grinned, jerking his head toward the ambulance.

 

The EMTs looked a little confused when Jimmy stepped in and took the seat, strapping himself in. "I was infected with the same stuff, just a drop, though, and I want to keep an eye on Fornell."

 

"Makes sense. Two birds one stone. Thanks for..." The tall tech said, and Jimmy cut him off.

 

"You're welcome. I've already had that discussion once. Let's get him to the hospital and into a clean room, please."

 

"Do you think we need precautions?"

 

"I'm not sure about airborne, but if that's the case, the whole HRT will be infected. I don't think so, though, because the chemist didn't have a suit on. So, probably not. However, I'd use the stronger blood protections." He shrugged, and leaned his head back against the side of the van, waiting to go. "Oh, damn," he cursed, pulling his phone out of his pocket. "I have got to text Breena." He sighed. "The baby had to go to the backup babysitter, and I was going to try to go home early..." The techs were watching Fornell's vitals, but they hummed as though listening. He knew it didn't matter — they understood he was covering up his nervousness, and they had a job to do. He sighed, running his thumbs over the screen to text his wife. Her response was to call him, and he picked it up. "Hey."

 

_"What happened, Jim?"_ Breena sounded worried. _"Your text wasn't exactly enlightening. Are you gonna be okay?"_ He didn't know how to answer her.

 

"Not sure, Bree. I mean, I got an experimental chemical on bare skin. So, we have no clue what we're looking at. That's not the problem, though."

 

_"That's not the problem? What could be worse than that?"_

 

He winced. She was pretty upset, and he could understand that. "Agent Fornell got it in the bloodstream. So, I'm doing double duty."

 

_"Do you need Ducky-Duty?"_ They had coined the phrase when Doctor Mallard had had his heart attack. Someone had to feed the next-of-kin, keep them informed, and the like. With the professions they had chosen, they were pretty well qualified to do that.

 

"I might. I'll let you know, though I'm not sure what the plan is for Fornell. He's unconscious, so not sure which level we'll need." He sighed. "I'm sorry about this, Bree."   
  


_"James Palmer, don't worry about it. You just worry about figuring out what the chemical was, and dealing with the fallout. Tori and I will take care of the rest."_ She cooed the last words, and Jim's heart twinged at the sound of his daughter.

 

"Thank you. Love you both." He sighed again, and ended the call. He sat back against the side of the bus and sighed, trying to relax enough to rest while they traveled.

 

They arrived at the hospital, and Jimmy helped them get Fornell into a clean room. "His name is Tobias Fornell, and I'm James Palmer." He started to give them as much information as he could. His own information was easy. He even had his insurance card in his billfold. However, he wasn't sure what to do with Fornell. "Someone from his team should be there, or his card might be with his things..." He was hoping Fornell had been just as proactive. Thankfully enough, he had been, so they were able to get all of his information as well. They called his doctor and got his record. During all this, Jim just watched the other man, trying to observe any changes. He'd only spent the past week in any sort of range of the man for more than a few minutes here and there, but he thought that would be enough time to notice something if it were out of place.

 

"His vitals look good," the nurse coming in said. Her name was Janis, and he nodded.

 

"I've been watching. They don't appear to have any clear demonstrable changes. I really wonder what was in that stuff. Do you know if they have tested it yet?" If they had, maybe they had sent the information to the hospital so they could treat them.

 

"I haven't heard, Doctor, but when they do, I will let you know. Is there anything you need?" Jim shook his head, and the nurse left again, suit and all. He sighed and tried to rest.

 

It must have been a while later that he woke up again to shifting in the bed beside him. "Tobias," he started, slipping into 'doctor' instead of 'Mister Palmer.' "Tobias, it's Doctor Palmer." He spoke softly enough not to alarm, but hoped to get him to wake up. He noticed that Fornell's skin looked a little pale, so he leaned in to feel it. It felt fine, but if he'd had to gage temperature from looks, it would have been much lower. _Huh. That's weird._

 

He considered it for a while as Fornell continued to sleep on.

 

He also noticed that the the light around him seemed slightly grayish. He looked at the bulbs and they didn't appear to be very different than when he'd been in this hospital last time. That didn't mean anything though. One of the doctors was always wanting to try something new, especially technological, so she would bring in different things and ask the patients if they minded trying a new technique. If it was non-invasive, or had to do with the setting, she often asked the nurses. He wondered if this wasn't part of that. He shrugged, and brushed it off for the time being. He leaned back in his chair and dozed off again.

 

A while later, he awoke to the sound of a nurse coming into his room. "Doctor Palmer, how do you feel?" The suit-clad nurse asked as she looked at the readout of Fornell's vitals. Jimmy knew he knew her name, but could not remember it for the moment. It wasn't an issue at the moment, so he let it go, but he knew it would bug him.

 

"I'm fine, as far as I can tell. Fornell's skin looks a little gray to me, and ... he looked up at the nurse, pushing the glasses up onto his nose. "Did Doctor Santini have anything to do with the layout or lights in the room?"

 

The nurse shook her head. "Santini's not been in this room for ages. I think she's got an experimental thing in one of the NICU sections, but otherwise, I don't think she's doing anything at the moment. Why?"

 

"The light _around_ Tobias looks a little weird." He tilted his head and gazed at her. "Come to think of it, the light around you looks different, too." He frowned at that. "But just around you. Like a haze."

 

"I think that may be a side effect of the chemical, because that doesn't sound right." The nurse mused. "Anything specific about it?"

 

"It's kind of a yellow-green. Not like vomit. More like a spring morning?" He looked closer at her. "Well, most of it. Some of it's a little bit OD green. Sorry. I know I have a tendency to run my mouth."

 

"We all know that by now, Doctor." She made a note on his chart. It was set on a table to the side, so as not to confuse with Fornell's. "We'll keep an eye on you, but you shouldn't see anything but what you normally see. And I know you've seen me before, so you shouldn't see ..."

 

"You're right." He sighed deeply. "There goes my idea that I would be able to get home in time." He shook his head. "Wishful thinking, I guess." He leaned back and closed his eyes again. "I'll probably doze off again. Let me know if you need me."

 

"I will, Doctor." And the nurse stepped away, and he still could not remember her name. It'd come to him later.

 

He had just dozed off again when he heard Tobias shift a little in the bed. He woke up, fully awake, and stood up, scanning Tobias' form for any changes. The FBI agent opened his eyes. "Gremlin," he began, and then coughed. His skin tinged bright cherry red for a moment, then faded into the normal pale peach. However, the light around him stayed red, but seemed to be light, like it was only a small red light in a big room of white light. He frowned, and waited for Fornell to speak again. When he didn't, he took charge, choosing to wait to see if the others could see the odd things he was seeing.

 

"It's me." Jimmy started by saying. "We got Graham out of there, but in the process, the guy stabbed you with a hypodermic needle. We don't know what was in there, but we're pretty sure it was an experimental chemical." Fornell's skin flashed two or three different colors, but they passed by so quickly he wasn't able to process them. One of them was a sickly gray, one was a yellow-green, and then he saw the red again. He paused, inhaled and then continued, unsure of how to deal with this, since it was so weird. "I was infected too. I wasn't injected, but a couple drops of the stuff dripped on my skin and was absorbed." He watched, and the light around the other man shifted again, several colors phasing through before settling in a yellow-green color.

 

Jimmy waited for a moment, thinking about what to say next. Tobias cleared his throat, and spoke, his voice even more gravelly than normal. "Something you're not telling me, Palmer. I know that look." His skin tinged a bluish green, like turquoise, and Jimmy sighed.

 

"Yeah. I — uh — I wasn't sure how to tell you this. Your skin keeps changing colors." He sighed. "I'm cataloging them, and there's like ten different colors I've seen. I think it might have to do with..." He cleared his own throat. "I don't know actually. But I also don't know if I'm seeing things, or if it's really happening," he paused, and Tobias spoke up.

 

"Or both." Fornell nodded. "Have you heard anything from our lab or ..."

 

"I had some sent to Abby too." He winced as he said that. "I know she's not FBI, but I trust her...."   
  


"Palmer, she's the best in the business, but if you tell anybody in your building I said that..." His tone threatened dire retribution. His skin was a dark, forest green.

 

"I won't say anything to anybody in your building or mine. I might tell Breena." He shrugged. "There isn't much I don't tell my wife."

 

"Fair enough," Fornell said, and his skin took a bluer tinge. They sat in silence for a while, and then, Fornell's skin started to turn that weird gray again. "Think I'm gonna go back to sleep. Nothing better to do." Then, as a flash of yellow-orange crossed his skin, his eyes popped open. "Did anybody call Emily?"

 

"I had someone take care of that. I think Breena and Tori are going to sit with her for a bit. Neither of them can come in here until we figure out what's going on and whether it's contagious. Breena's pretty good at taking care of people who are worried and grieving. She kind of does it for a living." He shrugged, proud of his wife. "If she needs something, or needs to know something, she'll call us. She knows where we are, and probably has already talked to the people outside." He smiled.

 

"Ok, Gremlin." When he said that, his skin flickered between a pale pink (near enough to his regular color) and the gray color that had been showing up more often. Without another word, the gray color suffused through the rest of his skin while Jimmy watched, and Fornell fell asleep.

 

Jimmy leaned back against the chair again, shifted to try to get comfortable, and did the same.

 

**Abby does her magic**

 

Android Lust filtered through the air as Abby stood in her lab, tapping her hands on her thighs and waiting for a result. This had been a rush job from the FBI. Normally she would have just ignored it, but it had been a personal request from Agent Fornell and Gibbs didn't currently have a case. So, she had the time. She hummed, and sent good thoughts and vibrations toward her machine, encouraging them to move faster.

 

The test was almost done, and she was curious what Agent Toby wanted her to get done so quickly. When Major Mass Spec's end tone sounded, she reached for the results, and pulled them up on her computer. "What would this even do...?" She tapped her chin for a couple moments, examining what she knew, and considering whether any of her resources would have the information, and then she sighed. She turned, pointed toward the door, print-out of results in hand, and strode out. "To the Duckman I go!"

 

She got into the elevator, whispering a prayer as she did. Ever since the thing with Mikel, she was still slightly nervous, and the elevators calmed her and reminded her. She sighed when got off, patting the door kindly in a tiny ritual that only Gibbs had noticed, and he never said anything about. She knew he had his own weird rituals, too. She peeked around to make sure that Ducky wasn't busy, and then grinned. "Hey, Duckman. I got a question for you."

 

Ducky was sitting at his little desk, reading over a file. "Yes, my dear, what can I do for you?" She handed him the papers.

 

"One person was injected, and one person absorbed it through the skin. What would it do, and is it contagious?" She gestured to the active agent. "I hadn't seen that particular combination before, and I'm kinda worried about what it means."

 

"Especially since it is my own dear James who absorbed it through the skin," Ducky muttered, but Abby heard.

 

"What? Jimmy got infected? Now we really need to know." Abby chewed on her bright red nail.

 

"I shall have to consult a couple of my resources, my dear, but rest assured I shall be prompt. I shall let you know what to tell them as soon as I am able."

 

Just as magically as ever, her silver fox came barging through the door. "Tell what to who, Duck?" He stepped close to her, slid an arm around her and gave her a kiss on the temple. He stepped back, and fell into his modified 'parade rest' stance, waiting for answers.

 

"Abigail has just given me the results of the sample we discussed, Jethro. I do not know what the man was intending to do, but it certainly does not bode well for our young men."

 

Gibbs snorted, as if he knew who the men were and that they wouldn't like being called Ducky's _young men_ like that.

 

"You know who they are, Gibbs? Who?" She was so curious, especially since they were working with the _FBI._ NCIS never worked with the FBI unless it was a life or death situation. Usually, they ended up bouncing agents off the Beltway in body bags instead of cooperating.

 

"Fornell and Palmer." Gibbs' lips thinned into a worried line.

 

"Which you already said, at least part of." Abby gestured to Ducky. "So, what does it do?" She bounced somewhat impatiently, waiting to see what Ducky would say.

 

"The chemical probably has some affect in two major centers of the body. The first is the visual cortex. The second, and this only happens quickly, so perhaps only in Tobias' case, it does something with the melanin."

 

"English, Duck."

 

"The eyes, Gibbs. Something about the way they see. And the melanin is the skin color. Don't tell me..." Abby closed her eyes, letting the chemical interact with what she knew of melanin in her mind. "It ... no."

 

"Yes, my dear Abigail. In fact, it is influenced by the various hormones. It alters the hormone receptors to tell them to send another chemical to the melanin... It's actually quite brilliant. If it were not permanent, I would consider it a splendid idea for a jest. However, I do believe our young men are in for quite a challenge."

 

Gibbs growled, and for a moment, Abby was struck dumb trying to think how to explain it. Then, she struck on an idea. "If I'm understanding this right, and the Duckman can correct me if I'm wrong, but if I've got this right, Agent Fornell has become a giant mood ring."

 

"Abigail, that is an extremely succinct explanation. Well done, my dear." Ducky beamed at her, and she smiled back.

 

"Hate to interrupt this love-fest, but ..." Gibbs winced. "Permanent?" He glanced between the two, and Abby thought she could see worry in his face. He had been working with Agent Fornell for a long time.

 

"Yes, Jethro. There may be some solution I have not yet seen, but as I understand it, this is completely permanent. I believe Mister Palmer may have the lesser fate. His sight merely has been altered. We must get these results over to the hospital and see if they can confirm or expand on them."

 

"I'll take 'em," Gibbs responded gruffly. He looked at Abby, then over at Ducky, and Abby saw him thinking for a moment before he sighed. "C'mon." He jerked his head toward the door.

 

The two scientists followed after him like ducklings. The mental picture made Abby grin.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Daughters**

"Where is he, where is he, where is he?" Emily didn't care about how she looked. She ran down the hallway toward the closed-off area where they were keeping her father.

 

"Em." That voice calmed and worried her at the same time. She turned to see her stepfather / uncle / good friend standing in front of her, solid as ever.

 

"Uncle Gibbs. Where is my dad, and why can't I see him?" She ran to her uncle and let him hug her. If Gibbs was here, she could handle it. "So, what's going on?" She pulled back, and Gibbs looked at her. He jerked his head toward the room, and she freed herself from his grasp to go look inside. She couldn't see much, though she did see Jimmy in there. She'd talked to him a time or two when she'd been at NCIS to talk to Uncle Gibbs or her dad.

 

"Sorta." She grumbled inwardly at her uncle's lack of explanations. She loved the man, but there were times she had agreed with mom. He couldn't explain anything unless he was in front of a judge with a summons. She sighed, and he looked at her like he understood exactly what she was thinking. He probably did. "Complicated. Tobias got injected, and Palmer just got it on the skin."

 

"What, though, Uncle Gibbs?" The lack of information was going to drive her crazy. She huffed angrily, and moved to sit down. Next to her, she finally was a young woman with a baby. The baby looked familiar. "Oh. You're ..."

 

"Palmer's wife." Uncle Gibbs explained that much at least. He gestured between them like maybe the other woman had more words available to explain the situation, or understood it better.

 

"I'm Breena Palmer. Nice to meet you." She sounded fairly normal. "That's my husband in there with your dad. And this," she gestured to the little girl sleeping in the carrier beside her, "is Victoria. We call her 'Tori.'"

 

"I have a friend who goes by Tori. The old names are really coming back into popularity. There's a girl in my psych class who's a Gertrude. She obviously goes by Trudy." She rolled her eyes. "I'm Emily Fornell, but you probably already knew that."

 

"I think I would too, wouldn't you?" Breena's eyes crinkled in amusement. "I did know that, but it's nice to have it confirmed." She grinned. Then, she sobered as she looked toward the room. "So, apparently, the easiest way to explain this is that your dad and my husband were going after a kidnapper, and the kidnapper ..." Breena explained the whole story to her, and if the expression on her uncle's face was anything to go by, he hadn't heard all of it before. Especially when she thought she heard a muttered _dumbass_ directed toward her father. That comforted her a little bit.

 

"So," she bit her lip, trying to keep up with all the information she'd heard. "In other words, my dad and your man got careless, and some dickwad stabbed my dad with a weird experimental chemical that dripped on to Jimmy's skin, and now they're both like giant mood rings?"

 

She didn't know her uncle had come so close, but the soft reprimand tapped against the back of her head for language fixed that.

 

"Basically," Breena replied, huffing her amusement at Emily. Emily wasn't sure if it was because of the language or the summary .

 

"What?" She turned to Gibbs. "I know my dad can get into some weird..." she prevented herself from saying _shit_ like she really wanted to, and corrected it to "crap, but this is hinky, Gibbs." She sighed, and leaned back into the chair. "And, if it wasn't permanent, they'd just be under observation. Tell me it's not contagious."

 

"They're not positive yet, but they think so." Breena's voice sounded both frustrated and sympathetic.

 

"Great." Emily sat back in the chair, and considered her options.

 

Before she could get too far into thinking them through, Uncle Gibbs tapped her on the shoulder, then stuck a finger under her chin. "Hey." She waited to hear what he had to say. "He'll be okay."

 

" Yeah, like O in 'Home.'" Emily knew the comparison was lost on her uncle who never watched movies. "Ask DiNozzo," she gestured with her hand, and Gibbs seemed to understand that she meant a movie.

 

"Hey," He repeated, and there was more gravitas in his voice this time, and Emily knew he was being deadly serious. " _You'll_ be okay." She heard the emphasis, and nodded, and hugged him again, letting him explain more with his hug than his words could ever do. With a deep sigh, she just held on for a long few minutes. _Things would be okay._ At this moment, she could believe it.

 

**Fully Awake**

Jimmy sat in his seat looking down at the paper in front of him. He frowned as he read through his coworkers' conclusions.

 

"Don't keep me in suspense, Gremlin, what's it say?" Tobias was awake and Jimmy sighed as he tried to figure out how to present this to him. It made it worse that he was involved. "Just spit it out, kid. Don't try to sugarcoat it. I know they teach you to try to put it in the best possible light, but I'm an old dog and I have seen it all. So, just tell me."

 

"The jackass injected you with a chemical that turned your skin into a mood ring. Your skin color will change according to your moods. Also, both of us will see everybody else's moods like auras. Like color filters over the light around somebody." He pushed his glasses up and held out the folder. "It's pretty damn unbelievable." He sighed again. "I'm sorry I wasn't quick enough."

 

"None of that, kid." Fornell sighed, and Jimmy wondered what the pale blue meant. "It wasn't up to you to save me. And I'll live. Might have to learn how to use makeup, but I'll live." He grinned, and Jimmy grinned right back.

 

"There is that. I don't know what the colors mean yet, but maybe we can work together on that. Since we're both dealing with it?" He felt a little bit of hope, and a nagging sense of relief that he wasn't injected. That made him feel guilty, so he pushed the thought away.

 

"Whatever that thought was, Gremlin, it was ugly, wasn't it?" Jimmy looked up to where Fornell was looking at him pretty closely. "It was something not pleasant. I can tell. It was kind of the color of pea soup."

 

"Guilt." Jimmy was honest. "I was feeling relieved that you were the one to get injected, and then realized how I felt, and that made me feel guilty."

 

"Oh, yuck, yeah, that merits pea soup green. Need to start writing these down. They're gonna ask." His skin turned a golden orange, and he looked up through the window. "When will we know if we're contagious or infectious or whatever?"

 

"I think they're going to know pretty soon. I mean, I hope they do. It depends on a couple of factors, but from what I'm seeing, it's not going to take that long for them to realize that the stuff goes inert once it reacts with ..."

 

"Breathe, kid." The agent grinned, and his skin was a rosy pink. "Huh. I go pink when somethin's funny."

 

"There might be shades of emotion to go with shades of colors. I don't think it's going to be as straightforward as we like. I mean, after all, in China, red means happiness. Here, it means anger. I don't know what criteria he used, or if he even cared about that." He muttered to himself about stupid idiots and proper medical procedure for a few minutes while Fornell just lay there in his bed, pink skin and all.

 

"If it matters, your glow, or whatever, is pretty red. So, apparently, that's anger, or frustration or something." Jimmy sighed.

 

"I'm going to start writing this down, and if we need to narrow it down, or clarify, or ..." He chewed on his lips, and started typing into his phone. "I'll make a Google Doc, and if you'll give me your email, I'll share it with you."

 

"Sounds like a plan, kiddo." Fornell leaned back, and his skin paled to a near gray. "I am exhausted."

 

"And gray. Not a good look. But gray. So, ..." He typed that into the document, and then looked up. "Go to sleep, and I'm sure we'll get to see the girls soon." There was a flicker of deep blue that Jimmy recorded, leaving the 'emotion' column blank, and then Fornell fell asleep.

 

 

 

 

 

**Together**

"Shh," Breena tried to calm her daughter. "She's just so tired."

 

Emily smiled. "I can't blame her. Do you want me to hold her for a bit?"

 

Breena nodded and handed her over. Emily pulled the little girl close, and bounced. One of her friends had a baby, and she'd started to help take care of him. Tori was a little younger. "Shh, Tori, it's okay, honey." She stood up, swaying her hips like she did when she was holding Eddy, and kept talking and singing to her quietly. She didn't notice the looks Uncle Gibbs and Breena were giving each other.

 

"Could solve that problem," Uncle Gibbs' voice drew her attention. He was trying to be quiet so he wouldn't disturb Tori, but Emily heard him.

 

"What problem?" Emily shifted Tori to the other side, kept bouncing, and looked pointedly at the adults.

 

"We haven't had the best luck with ..." Emily wasn't going to be able to hear what the issue was as the nurse came out.

 

"I think we've determined that they are non-communicable. So, if you'd all like to visit..." She looked warily at the baby. "Normally we wouldn't allow the little one in the room, but I think in this case, she should be okay.

 

"Shhh, Tori, let's go see Daddy." Emily smiled. She would get to see _her_ Daddy too.

 

"I can take her if you ..." Breena reached out, but Emily shook her head. Tori's little head drooped on to her shoulder.

 

"I think I've almost got her to sleep. Let's just go." She bounced as she walked. Really, Tori was a cute little girl. Smart, too. And much quieter than her friend's kid. She sighed, careful not to disturb the baby, and walked toward the room.

 

"It's gonna be kind of weird to see him, especially if his skin is some weird color." She chewed on her lip.

 

"Think of it like any other disability, Emily. You wouldn't feel weird if he'd lost a finger, or hurt his legs or something, right? Just consider this an extremely unique disability. He's not even going to be that hampered by it. He won't be able to go undercover anymore, of course, and ..." Breena grinned. "Once you get the colors down, you probably will always know how he feels about something before he can tell you. So, you can really work with that."

 

She heard Uncle Gibbs snort at that, and she realized that she was being handled. She did have her mother's dislike for that, but she understood. This was how Breena was dealing with the situation. Some people hunted idiots down, like her Dad and Uncle Gibbs, and some people helped others. That was a valid way to deal. She nodded, and steeled herself for anything.

 

Her father's skin was a yellow-orange, and it made her smile. He smiled at her, and chuckled in a way she knew was being self-deprecating.

 

"Don't worry about it, Daddy. We'll figure it out." It was weird watching the colors flicker so quickly. Sometimes, she could see an emotion appear in his cheeks and spread to his face, like the deep purple that started exactly like a blush, and sometimes, it started at the top of his head and worked its way down. "What's purple?"

 

"Pride." Jimmy spoke up, looking up from his phone. "As far as I can tell, he's proud of something or someone."

 

"This is worse than a psych appointment," her dad grumbled, and she saw something flash across his skin.

 

"Is not," Uncle Gibbs replied, and her dad noticed him for the first time.

 

"What the hell." Emily reached up to cover Tori's ears, though she was sleeping. "The whole gang here?" His skin was pale pink, and he clutched at his blankets. Emily figured he was pretty embarrassed.

 

"No, Dad," Emily replied, stepping forward. "Just Uncle Gibbs. He brought the results, so he stuck around for a bit. Kept Breena, Tori and me company, honestly." The pale pink faded somewhat, and he nodded.

 

"Alright, come on in. Make yourselves at home," he shook his head, and she saw another color flash quickly.

 

"Good one," Jimmy replied, and then he turned to see where his wife and daughter were. "Hey, Breena." He stood up, and held her close for a moment, and Dad's skin flashed Smurf blue. Emily wondered what that color meant, but she didn't ask, because he looked away from the cuddling couple. Suddenly, she had a pretty good idea what he was thinking. He missed Mom.

 

"I've got Tori," Emily said, drawing attention to herself again. "She was just so tired, wasn't she?" Emily caught herself speaking in that higher tone, but she didn't babytalk to her.

 

"Breena," Jimmy gestured toward Emily, and Breena was quick to respond.

 

"Yeah. I know. Gibbs and I were already talking about that. If she can, it might be worth it."

 

Emily frowned, and bounced her lightly in her arms, feeling her stir slightly. "What would be worth it?" She kept her voice calm, but she was starting to get a little annoyed.

 

"Hey, it's okay. We just wondered if you would have the time to babysit. Our regular babysitter hasn't been able to do it lately. We'd put her in the daycare, but our hours are just so weird right now that we can't do the regular schedule thing..."

 

"It wouldn't be full-time, forever unless you wanted it to be. We just need either a reliable sitter for those days when we both get called in, or even someone to back up our regular sitter."

 

"I could do that." And Emily saw a riot of colors cross her father's skin. She never knew people could have so many separate emotions at the same time. "We can work out the details. Dad's priority, though."

 

"Please," her dad complained, though his skin flickered between a royal blue and a dusty pink like her shirt. "I'll be fine. Have to ride a desk, but I was wondering about that anyway since I'm gettin' so old." He glared pointedly at Uncle Gibbs, but the color of his skin didn't change.

 

"No older 'n me, Tobias," Gibbs grinned.

 

"Exactly my point, Jethro." Her father retorted, just like she knew he would. They would be fine.

 

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Credit to the Grinning Wookie for some of the plot ideas in this chapter. Thanks, Wook!

**Court Case**

Tobias put on his court suit and sighed as he looked over his ties. Diane had picked so many of these out. He looked down at his hands which had turned blue while he dressed. He hadn't fully come to grips with dealing with his 'condition.' He'd talked to the Bureau's shrink, and she didn't seem to know what to say either. The most helpful advice he'd gotten had been from Mrs. Gremlin who had told Emily to treat it like any other disability, just more unique. Emily said that was pretty much word for word. He'd heard enough through the years to be able to recite the party line on getting wounded in the line of duty. Hell, he and Jethro had quoted it to each other a couple times throughout the years. But he was still mobile. He could still do his job, mostly, except for the fact that his skin was a weird color most of the time.

 

And, he'd learned a lot more about himself and others than he ever wanted to know. He knew when Emily found a boy cute, he knew what the Palmers thought of each other, he knew that Jethro wasn't as annoyed with him as he claimed to be. Weirder than that, he knew that he wasn't as upset at _Jethro_ as he liked to portray, either. He sighed again and grabbed for a fairly plain tie that wouldn't clash with any of the colors he thought he'd turn today.

 

Rolling his eyes at his internal monologue, he grabbed his fedora and stepped out the door. People paid less attention to a guy with a hat pulled down some over his face, so he'd taken to wearing one in public. He drove to the courthouse and stepped into the courtroom. He snorted with amusement and his skin turned the dusty pink he'd come to associate with amusement.

 

"S'so funny, Tobias?" Jethro walked over to him, and Tobias shrugged.

 

"Didn't think you'd be here today. Been kind of maudlin this morning. Blue all around." He gestured down to his tie, and Gibbs gave him a knowing look. "Shut up."

 

"Didn't say a damn thing, Tobias." Tobias chuffed a laugh again, and gestured toward the courtroom.

 

"Shall we?" A grunt was all he got from the bastard, but it was enough. They sat near the DA, and listened to Griffiths rant on about how he was making a way to fix something. Tobias didn't understand, but he saw Gibbs stiffen slightly beside him, and the glow around him was a black. He hadn't seen that before. It was a weird thing to look at. He frowned, wondering what the black meant. It didn't last long, but he filed it away for later discussion.

 

The man was clearly not quite all there, and it frustrated Tobias to have to let this one go into psych care instead of going to jail. He made it a point to look a few things up, or ask Ducky or Jimmy about them. However, he watched, somewhat mollified as Griffiths was sentenced to intense psychiatric care and fined heavily for several different violations of criminal code. It wasn't quite enough, and his skin showed the turquoise of annoyance, but it was better than him being out on the street, hurting other people. Besides, he hadn't gotten a hold of Artiz. That comforted him somewhat. He did wonder if there were any other kids who had been hurt or killed by this guy, but that didn't bear thinking about. Some of Gibbs' rules were worth hanging on to, and Rule 10 — when the case is done, walk away — was one of the wiser ones.

 

He looked over to where Gibbs was sitting, and saw a flash of different colors. That black was still there, and he wondered about it more. However, it was infused with the turquoise that he felt, as well as a couple other flashes here and there. Most of them were negative emotions. He worried about his friend, but didn't know what to do about it.

 

"Hey, Jethro. Been meaning to ask you. You mind helping me get Emily's bedframe fixed? It broke, I mean, she's had it since she was a ..."

 

The bastard grunted, but he saw a change in the color around him, and the black faded away. He figured it was good enough. Now, to decipher whether the grunt was, _yeah, alright,_ or _hell, no, Tobias._ Sometimes, they sounded an awful lot alike. He snorted ruefully and nodded toward the door.

 

"C'mon. I'll buy you a cup of coffee."

 

"Long as it's not Starbucks. Tastes like shit." Gibbs replied, standing, purposefully jarring him with his shoulder on the way out of the room.

 

"Hey, Jethro!" Tobias complained, but his skin stayed pink, so Jethro didn't look twice. _Sometimes, this is a burden._ He shook his head again, and stepped out into the air, continuing to verbally spar with his best friend.

 

**No one expects the Fornell Inquisition**

"So, if I've got this right," Tobias began, looking at his daughter at the dinner table over a plate of pasta. "You want to talk to me about some stuff, and see how bright I turn, or what color I turn. Right?"

 

"Yeah, Dad, I want to tell you about my idea and my plan, but I don't know how you're gonna feel about it. But now that I think I've got most of the colors figured out, you won't have to actually talk about it." She grinned and took a bite of her food. After she'd chewed her food, she spoke again. "Besides, don't you watch interrogations now?"

 

"Best profiler ever, though I can't actually go into the room with them," he grinned. "Palmer does the same thing from time to time."

 

"Yeah, I've seen him work his magic on Tori. She'll be upset about something, and he'll take one look at her, and tell us exactly what she wants. I mean, babies' wants are pretty simple as it is, but I guess there's even a color for bored?" Emily waved her fork around as she talked. He grinned, skin taking on the humored color as he remembered how she'd done that as a little girl and flung a piece of chicken at his face.

 

"Huh. I'll have to ask him about that one. He might have a more complete list than I do. Anyway, ask away." He was a little apprehensive about this and it showed on his skin. There was a slight orange tinge.

 

"So, I've been talking to some of Uncle Gibbs' team." That worried him a little. "Oh, please. It's mostly about colleges, and their experiences figuring out what they want to do." That eased his mind, but he was surprised at how well she read him.

 

"So, you weren't kidding about me not needing to talk, huh?" He grinned. "Maybe it should have been your Uncle Gibbs that got injected."

 

Emily grinned, and he saw the amusement around her. "Really. It'd be so much easier to understand what the hell is going on behind his eyes." She must have seen the annoyance building, because she rolled her eyes. "Geeze, dad, I'm 19. I swear. I grew up around you, Mom and Uncle Gibbs, and you expect me not to swear? Anyway. I was thinking about going to MIT. Majoring in biometrics."

 

"Isn't that what McGoo majored in?" Tobias was curious.

 

"No, _McGee_ majored in Biomedical engineering and computer forensics. The biometrics degree isn't that old. Besides, you're derailing, and deflecting. Good job, Dad, you don't even need your affliction to tell me what you think." He looked at her, and saw the anger.

 

"No, I was just curious. Seriously." He showed her: his skin was the weird yellow-green color that he'd labeled "idle curiosity."

 

"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, so, I was thinking about how you and Uncle Gibbs, and Mom even, had a lot of trouble with moles."

 

"Moles are the bane and annoyance of every federal agency. That and leaks. Sometimes, they're the same thing, sometimes, they're not."

 

"Dad, I know this. I lived with Mom for _how long_?" She sighed, and he could see the blue of sadness and grief around her. He knew his own skin probably showed it, too, though he tried not to think too hard about it.

 

"Anyway," She was getting annoyed again. "I want to major in it and develop kind of a secondary system for lie detector tests. Or even for the chairs in the interrogation room. That way you can tell by the temperature of their skin, or other factors, what they're feeling."

 

"So, kind of like having me or Palmer standing at the window." He nodded.

 

"Or other trained profilers." She cut her chicken. "Didn't you once tell me that you thought Hotchner could profile a person within ten minutes of meeting them? And that he wasn't the best on his team?"

 

"Yeah. So you want them to have more data, or to even have that much data. It sounds like a good idea, Emily." He nodded. It also sounded very safe.

 

"Yeah, but I also want to be one of the Agents using it. I want to go into profiling myself." _That_ did not sound as safe. "Really, dad. Seriously? Most dads would be pleased that their kid wants to go into their line of work. Some would even be proud."

 

"Oh, I'll be proud, Emily. No doubt about that. But it's not a safe line of work, and you know me. I worry." Now he was the one waving his fork.

 

"I know. I can see it on your face." She grinned at her own joke.

 

"Ha, ha, ha. So, what else did you want to ask me about?"

 

"Well, see, I've met this boy..." _Thunk_. He dropped his head, and nearly hit it on the table. It was going to be a long night.

 

**New Normal**

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure he's lying. If he's not lying, he's awfully nervous about something." Fornell spoke into the microphone, and sat back in his chair again, watching the man squirm in his seat, the bright yellow-orange surrounding him, nearly blinding him with intensity. He grinned. "Ask him about that last thing," he added, leaning forward again. "The run-down house. Something about that one's making him real antsy." He chuckled and watched as one of his new team asked a very pointed question about the house they found him in.

 

_"I didn't put it there! I promise!"_

 

_"Didn't put what there?"_ Martha Endgise leaned in, pressuring him just a little more.

 

_" The drugs. I just used some. I mean, I wasn't going to, but it was a ...."_ He continued on for a couple minutes about how horrible his life was and how much he just needed a hit.

 

"Damn." Tobias sighed. "I thought sure he was the one. But he's not, is he?" The man beside him grunted his agreement. "Well, back to square one. What about the cousin? Did anything pan out with him?"

 

"Maybe. There were a couple of things that looked a little hinky. I'll go over them again, and we'll figure it out." His partner stood to return to his desk.

 

"You do that. I'm gonna call Emily." His daughter was home from college, and wanted to show him something. He fully expected to be used as a guinea pig to make sure her little sensors worked properly. "Hey, Em. You near home yet?" He grinned as he stood to walk outside for a cup of coffee. People finally stopped staring at him all the time. He still got a couple stares, but people were usually quick to wave them away. He still hadn't figured out what was making his friend so upset. Black wasn't a good thing, he'd learned. Maybe, over time, Gibbs would tell him what depressed him so much. If not, Tobias would do his best to keep an eye on him. _Em and Diane would want that,_ he thought.

 

Speaking of Emily, she was still jabbering in his ear. "Yeah, alright, alright. I'll be home about six-thirty, and we'll talk then. I'm just getting coffee before we go back to work. I thought we had the guy, but he's not the one, I don't think. So, it might be a bit." He smiled at her response, and then bid her farewell before getting his coffee.

 

Life was definitely weird these days, but all in all? It was good.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're curious about the color scheme, so to speak, here it is. Some of it was borrowed heavily from _Inside out_ , _Home_ , the eye colors of the dragons and firelizards in McCaffrey's _Pern_ series, and a couple other sources. Some of it makes sense, some of it I did just because I could. 
> 
> Gray -- Tired  
> Yellow-green - idle, intellectual curiosity  
> Vomit green (or pea soup) -disgust, self-disgust, guilt.  
> Red -- anger, embarrassment, passion  
> Turquoise -- annoyance  
> Med Blue -- Grief, sadness  
> Yellow-orange -- panic or high pressure embarrassment  
> pale pink -- fond embarrassment, mild amusement  
> dusty pink - amusement  
> Royal Blue -- affection, stubbornness, loyalty  
> Black -- Despair, depression  
> White / pale purple -- fear


End file.
